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Camp Internet Expedition III
Romance of the Channel - Week Nov 16-20
Artists, Writers, Film Makers, Photographers, Musicians, and Artisans, 1850s to present day
Overview
This new study unit in Expedition III takes a look at the cultural activities that have recorded and celebrated life in the Channel region since becoming a member of the United States. We will learn how the Romance of the Channel spread across the country due to several influencing factors : the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad, the invention of the camera, the crumbling of the missions, the plight of the Native Americans, the birth of the film industry, the development of indigenous arts and crafts, and the birth of new musical traditions we still enjoy today.
Students will have an opportunity to learn about the art works in many mediums that have attempted to capture the Romance of the Channel from various perspectives, and can consider the creative forces behind these art works - who were these writers, painters, photographers, and what inspired them to visit or move to this new territory ? What handicaps or limitations did they have to over come ? Is it true Hollywood was not the birth of the film industry in California - that it really happened in Santa Barbara ? And what films used the Channel Islands as a backdrop ? What arts and crafts are native to the early 1900s in the Channel region ? And what about surf music and film legends ? What makes surf music surf music ? And how DID those buffalo get out on Catalina thanks to Hollywood ?
Main Online LIVE Chat
Last week we enjoyed having Deputy Director of the Catalina Island Museum, Stacey Otte on board as your Trail Guide for the chat. This week we have another great trail Guide - Dr. ‘Bill’ William Bushing, the Director of the Catalina Island Conservancy. Dr. Bill has been a pioneer in Internet-based educational outreach for the Conservancy, building an effective inter-agency intranet that you can enjoy at http://www.catalinas.net/seer. He will be breaking from his busy schedule to spend an hour and a half with our students on November 19th, 10-11:30 am. He is a good person to ask about the plant and animal life on the Island and also has a good knowledge of the Native American and historical periods of life on Catalina. Let us know if your call can attend the chat please - camp@rain.org.
This Week is a Community Night Week
Let us know if you will be able to attend one of the Community Night events at area schools taking place Tuesday and Thursday nights this week - the 17th and 19th. We will be hosting several more in December for classrooms wanting a winter event. These are a great opportunity to build community support for technology in the schools AND for the year end field trips. Plus, we want to help the schools who need more / better technology in the classrooms build administrative and community-wide support for upgrades for hardware and connectivity.
Tell a Teacher
Before school breaks for Winter Vacations, we ask each Camp Outpost Leader to bring one other teacher from their school into the classrooms for a demonstration of Camp Internet. The purpose of this professional exchange is to begin creating a ripple effect in the schools that spreads the word about methods for integrating technology-based resources into the classroom. We will post a form for you to fill out in December that charts how many other teachers you have been instrumental in sharing news of Camp Internet with, and then can pass that information along as a statistical report to the State Department of Education who are interested in seeing the Technology Literacy Challenge Grant dollars serve as many teachers as possible.
Meet a Camp Counselor
During November and December, we have Camp Counselors Susan Barkdoll and Joan Ward arranging classroom visits. They will come to your site to assist you in delivering the program to your students, to provide the students with a human face for the program, and to stay with you after class if needed to go over any technical questions. These visits are planned to each school site at least twice a year, so please open your doors and invite your Camp Counselor in ! As a pilot program, we want to hear how to make the project work better for you, so let the Counselor know about any improvements you would like to see take place.
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